Issues

• Healthcare

Rep. Frelinghuysen cosponsors the Working Families Wage and Access to Health Care Act which seeks to raise the minimum wage while offering important support for small businesses and expanding access to affordable health care for America's working families.  This legislation will establish Small Business Health Plans that would allow small businesses to band together through associations to purchase health care for employees. This would increase their bargaining power with health care providers, and lower health care costs by as much as 30 percent.

For the past several years, Rep. Frelinghuysen has been a cosponsor of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007.  He remains committed to protecting cancer patients and helping them receive the highest level of care possible. This includes increasing the federal role in research that will help find treatments and, ultimately, cures for blood cancers and all diseases. 

In 1997 Congress, with Rep. Frelinghuysen’s support, created and passed into law The Balanced Budget Act which established the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  This legislation provided health insurance to children in families with too much income to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford private insurance.   Between 1997 and 2005, the percentage of low-income, uninsured children dropped from 22.3 percent to 14.9 percent.  After months of negotiations, Congress, with my support, passed a short-term SCHIP extension.  The extension will fully fund and keep the program running until March 31, 2009. 

Smoking remains the number one preventable cause of death in America and thousands of children have their first cigarette every day. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which Rep. Frelinghuysen is and has been a cosponsor of, will give FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products in order to keep tobacco manufacturers from enticing young people to smoke and to assist current smokers in quitting.  This legislation passed the House of Representatives, with Frelinghuysen's support, and awaits action in the Senate.